'Dollhouse' Recap: The Evil Mastermind Is Revealed

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Joss Whedon has a fiercely loyal and loving fanbase, and it is occasionally an abusive relationship. He likes to destroy characters that the fans love so the pain is fresh and unique, and he likes to throw twists at us that stab our hearts. It happened all the time on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," like when Buffy had to stab Angel, or Tara was shot through the window, or in "Angel" when Fred was turned into Illyria or Doyle sacrificed his life, or then in "Serenity" when Wash became a victim of the Reavers, and finally when the only sweet character in "Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" was accidentally murdered. Whedon, why do you have to hurt us? And why do we love you for it?

Last week's episode of "Dollhouse" brought a major twist in the reveal of the man behind the curtain and in a shocking death. Serious spoilers below, be warned!

Echo has determined that the only way to figure out who Rossum really is would be to bring Caroline back. She's not very excited about this because it threatens her own personality, and, as we find out in the episode through flashbacks, Caroline's kind of a jerk. However, Caroline's imprint is missing and the only one they have is the one Alpha damaged. Topher cannot fix it so they have to go kidnap Bennett so she can help them put it together. She flirts adorably/awkwardly with Topher some more, but she is pretty angry when she realizes it is Caroline. She refuses to help.

The personal war between Bennett and Caroline is brought into the spotlight this episode, and it turns out Caroline purposely befriended the shy Bennett to use her to get into Rossum. Bennett never had a friend before and attached herself to Caroline, and eventually agreed to help her blow up Rossum. Caroline tried to stop the explosion when she broke into a weird Dollhouse facility with all these bodies, but it all got messed up. She found Bennett with her arm stuck and willingly gave up herself, telling Bennett to pretend she was just working late there so she'd be protected. Unfortunately Bennett thought this was a selfish act on Caroline's part, and therefore she has hated her ever since.

Everyone is back this week, including November who Ballard steals along with Bennett, and they imprint her with the Mellie personality again. This is to keep her loyal to Ballard no matter what. Claire Saunders is back as well and apparently has been shacking up with Boyd all this time. Awwww. They did make small references to him having 'trouble at home' so this was a nice surprise. It looks like the team is really all together to try and figure this out. However as Echo is shooing Sierra and Victor away to have some fun of their own, Dominic gets himself out of the Attic and warns her that Rossum knows. They're all in trouble.

Adelle is ready when Dollhouse employees show up, and Boyd shoots all of them dead. He is shot as well and she persuades him to go on the run. He has a tearful goodbye with Claire, and then leaves. Nooooo. We find out that Topher removed Ballard's love for Echo in order to put him back together, which she takes sadly but calmly, and then she makes a deal with Bennett. If Bennett will help put Caroline back in her head, she will willingly let her torture Caroline. She hates her original imprint and wants her to suffer too. Wow. Harsh, Echo, and awesome too.

There's a kink in this. Bennett does agree to fix it and she's doing a great job, and Topher finally confesses his feelings for her. They kiss (and "ow" because of his hurt lip) and it's all kinds of adorable. This is all brutally and suddenly destroyed when Claire walks in, talks to Bennett about Topher's feelings, and shoots her in the head. Right as Topher is walking back around the corner and is splattered with his love's blood. Yeah. Freaking harsh, Joss.

Panicked, Topher manages to put together the last of Caroline's brain even though he's heartbroken. He sends Ivy away with a sweet and heartfelt goodbye, and then Rossum employees start to break in. Topher imprints Echo with Caroline, and he is knocked out by an agent, but she is saved at the last minute by Boyd who has returned. Don't get ready to go YAY BOYD just yet, however, because in the last flashback Caroline is taken to meet the head of Rossum. She meets Clyde 2.0, and then meets Rossum himself. Boyd! What? Scream it with me! What?! Caroline snarks, "And I'm just going to trust you?" and EvilBoyd says, "With your life."

Whedon, you're a jerk. And there's only two episodes left. This has a lot of implications and might require fans to watch the show over again to see if there were signs about Boyd before. He never had a background or spoke of his past, and he was a very experienced killer. Yet it never occurred to most people that this loving, father-like figure was the mastermind behind everything evil. Wow. Way to bow out with intrigue and grace, "Dollhouse."

"Dollhouse" is on FOX for only two more weeks on Friday's at 9 PM EST.